T.J.'s Take: Running out of words to describe Tiger

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Let the Tiger love fest continue.

T.J. Auclair

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Just as the Buick Invitational was beginning last Thursday, renowned golf architect Rees Jones who redesigned Torrey Pines for the upcoming U.S. Open, was asked if the TOUR event might be a preview of things to come when the course plays host to the Open in June.

The "Open Doctor" -- as Jones is called -- offered an emphatic no. The conditions will be different, he said. The fairways will be harder and narrower, the rough will be thicker and the greens will be a whole lot faster and not nearly as receptive.

Fair enough. But, after the last putt dropped on Sunday you'd be hard-pressed to find someone to argue that the U.S. Open champion will be someone other than the guy who won the Buick Invitational.

It wasn't Tiger Woods' most dominant performance ever, but it sure was up there. At one point in the final round, Woods had an 11-shot lead. When the dust settled, he was eight shots better than second-place finisher Ryuji Imada, good for Woods' fourth consecutive win at Torrey Pines and sixth overall.

Imada has yet to win on the PGA TOUR. He did, however, finish second last May after losing to Zach Johnson in a playoff at the AT&T Classic. That second-place finish hurt. This one? Not so much.

"I don't think it's discouraging at all," Imada said after posting a fine 5-under-par 67, which along with Rory Sabbatini's 67 were the only two sub-70 rounds in the final round. "My goal going into the day was to finish second, and you know, that's almost like winning the golf tournament to me. With Tiger having an eight-shot lead or whatever -- how many shots did he have on me? Eleven shots? There was pretty much no chance for me to catch him. Finishing second was a little bit different this time around than when I lost to Zach Johnson last year in a playoff."

There's not much that can be written or said about Tiger that hasn't already been written or said. I mean, how many ways are there to describe how incredible he is and how lucky we are to be seeing the most dominating athlete of all time?

How many athletes are there that live up to the hype? How is it that Tiger himself can say winning the four majors in 2008 is, "easily within reason," and then rather than shake our heads, roll our eyes and laugh we actually believe him?

On top of all that, his challengers are setting goals to finish second. Granted, that surely wasn't Imada's primary goal when the week started. Every guy out there believes they can win. If they didn't believe that they wouldn't be on TOUR. The fact is Tiger is in a league of his own. It's as if the only thing that could possibly halt his dominance would be boredom.

People thought Tiger was crazy when he went through his swing changes with Hank Haney. Some thought he'd be a changed man after his marriage to Elin. Others thought he'd soften up after the birth of Sam Alexis.

If anything, all of the above have made him a stronger player, a reality that's hard to fathom. Who are we to question what can slow Tiger down? The man answers the scrutiny with grace and usually piles of victories.

After a performance such as the one we saw at the Buick Invitational, which by the way, earned Tiger TOUR win No. 62 to tie one Arnold Palmer for fourth on the all-time list, it makes you wonder how he doesn't win every time he tees it up. Of course, he is winning at an ungodly 30 percent clip or so, but still.

All you can really do is tip your hat and drop your jaw.

The bottom line is that the game of golf just isn't supposed to be as easy as he makes it look.

Be amazed. Be blown away. Be in awe. But most of all be thankful, because you may never see anything like this again.